


Lab Partners

by lies_d



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3990199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/pseuds/lies_d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school AU. Mr. Belson assigns Richard a new lab partner for a chemistry class experiment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lab Partners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GlitterDwarf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlitterDwarf/gifts).



"So you're new here?" Richard asked as they waited for the lab sheets to come around. Across the room Big Head shot him an apologetic smile before bending to his work with Stephanie. At least he was enjoying himself.

Richard had always suspected that Mr. Belson hated him. Now he knew for sure. Why else would he separate him from his best friend and stick him with this... weird new kid.

"Yes - just moved into town yesterday."

"One of your parents get a new job?" Richard asked to fill the uncomfortable silence.

"No. I've been placed in a new foster home."

"Oh."

"They seem nice to far."

"Okay. Uh. Good." Richard bobbed his head. He really could not think of anything else to say to that.

A foster kid - he looked the part. Shabby clothes, too skinny for his tall frame. Kind of a kicked-puppy look overall. He smiled nervously at Richard

"Jared, was it?"

The kid's face lit up, as though he were delighted that Richard was even addressing him.

"Sure! I think there might've been a mistake on the roll call, but you can call me Jared."

Thankfully the lab sheets arrived. Richard took one and passed the rest along. Jared (or whatever his name was) leaned over to read it with him, folding his hands in front of him.

That was when Richard first noticed them - Jared's hands, that is. They looked kind of... elegant, laced together like that. Long fingers. Trim, clean nails. They were big but not particularly mannish. For some reason, Richard could picture them dancing along the keys of a piano. Or playing some other kind of musical instrument. They were... really distracting, is what they were. By the time Jared asked, in his milk-mild voice, whether he could turn the lab paper over to read the other side, Richard was embarrassed to admit that he'd only gotten halfway through.

Once they'd finished reading the instructions, they divvied up the work in a way that Richard thought was quite fair. Under-privileged he may be, at least this new kid was no slacker.

Through the whole exercise, through every step, there were those  _hands_ . Measuring ingredients, writing notes. When Jared swirled their flask to mix the solution, Richard got an honest to god boner, right there in class. He was no stranger to random boners but holy crap, did it have to be for a guy? Did that mean he was like, gay? Goddammit.  _God dammit._ Like his life wasn't hard enough as it is.

Distracted by Jared's hands and his stupid gay boner, Richard couldn't remember if he'd measured out two or three grams of the copper powder they needed to add.

Their solution was starting to boil. Richard threw in what he had and prayed for the best.

At the end of the class, their flask contained a clot of black sludge, where everyone else had nice green crystals.

Mr. Belson came around, inspected their work, and wrote a big, fat F on their sheet. Jared, already pale, blanched visibly, and Richard felt a little queasy.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Belson," Jared pleaded. "I must have made a mistake with the temperature. It's really not fair that Richard get a bad mark because of my mistake."

Mr. Belson looked at them both and Richard tried, he really tried to work up the courage to admit that it was his fault.

"Doesn't matter whose mistake it was. You two were partners in this - partners pass or fail together."

"Mr. Belson," Richard finally spoke up. "Could we stay after class and try again?"

Mr. Belson smiled that weird, fake smile. "I've got papers to grade, so why not?"

This time Richard kept his eyes on a tight leash. They finished with a perfect result but only managed to get a B.

Jared heaved a sigh of relief, and that was good enough for Richard.

"Hey, um... did you want to maybe hang out at my place for awhile? I've got a few new games we could check out, if you don't mind a console player." Richard asked once they'd left the chemistry classroom. "Maybe you could stay for supper. My parents wouldn't mind."

Once again, Jared's face lit with happiness. "I would really love that," he said in a reverent voice.

Richard smiled. Jared seemed so nice, and he seemed smart, which was a really tiny sliver on the Venn diagram of kids in this high school. At the end of the day, Richard was glad to have met him.

Richard thought about Jared's hands wrapped around a game controller. He thought about his hands wrapped around... something else. Jared was looking at him so intently, it was hard not to think of being closer. Richard wondered if he'd have the courage to make friends with him, or to take their friendship a step further. 

In all honesty, he'd thought this chemistry class experiment would be completely stupid. So you take all the prescribed ingredients and take all the prescribed steps and you get... exactly what you expected to get.

Richard was so glad that sometimes, you get something completely different. Unexpected and awesome. He'd take it. That was just fine with him.


End file.
